1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connection device for a male electrical contact member in the form of a tongue. The invention also relates to a housing member adapted to contain this kind of device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a general rule, electrical connection devices for male tongues take the form of a body which is a good conductor of electricity and features a conduit into which the tongue is inserted, the interior of the conduit is conformed to feature a clamp adapted to grip the tongue and the body includes means for fixing it to a previously bared end of a conductor.
This kind of arrangement is relatively complex and necessitates considerable tooling.
A first object of the present invention is to simplify this kind of electrical connection device.
The invention provides an electrical connection device for a male electrical contact member in the form of a tongue, the device including a body in the form of a cage having an internal lateral wall constituting a bearing plate for a bared conductor, wherein the bearing plate has a projection on its inside face, a retaining rim in the vicinity of the projection and a curved elastic wall opposite the bearing plate with its convex side facing toward the interior of the cage, whereby, in use, the conductor can be bent into a U-shape with two branches and a loop, the loop can be inserted between the projection and the rim, and the branches then bear against internal lateral walls adjacent the bearing plate.
The male tongue is therefore inserted between the part of the conductor bent into a loop and the elastic wall and is pressed against the conductor to make the electrical connection.
This kind of arrangement has many advantages. It suffices to bend the conductor to fit it to the device and crimping is eliminated.
Because the electrical connection is made by the contact of one face of the male tongue with the conductor, the body can be made either from a material that is a good conductor of electricity or from an insulative material, for example a molded plastics material.
According to one constructional feature, the cage is made from a strip cut and bent to form a base with a rectangular section with two longer sides and two shorter sides, one of which shorter sides has an extension partly covering an outside face of a longer side.
According to another constructional feature, the shorter sides of the base are each extended at one end by a retaining lug and free ends of the lugs diverge.
According to another constructional feature, one of the longer sides of the base is extended at the same end as the retaining lugs by the bearing plate which terminates in a rim directed toward the interior of the cage and in which a lancing at an intermediate point of its height forms the projection inside the cage.
According to another constructional feature, the longer side of the base opposite that provided with the bearing plate is extended in the same direction thereas to form an elastic strip having at an intermediate point of its height a bending line delimiting a first part extending from the base toward the interior of the cage and a second part directed toward the outside.
The invention also provides a housing member which has a passage adapted to receive the device and the passage and the device have conjugate means for locking the device into the passage.
It is therefore possible to make junction boxes, fuse boxes or other boxes which include a base member having a certain number of passages each containing a device according to the invention with the corresponding conductor and whose functions can be modified on demand, without having to fabricate new tooling.
According to another constructional feature, the passage has at one end an opening through which the male tongue can be inserted and at the other end an opening through which the conductor can be inserted, the internal lateral walls of the passage have shoulders in the vicinity of the opening against which respective edges of two longer sides of the base of the cage bear, and two other internal lateral walls opposite the passage and in the vicinity of the opening have shoulders against which the free ends of the retaining lugs bear.